Perry County highlights Wendell H. Ford Airport as key gateway to Hazard

A gateway with a county job

Wendell H. Ford Airport is not just a name on a map in Perry County. At 1300 Terminal Road in Chavies, the field is the county’s designated place for flying into Hazard, and that gives it a role that reaches well beyond a simple strip of pavement.

The airport has been part of county planning since its activation in November 1983, and Perry County still presents it as a practical transportation asset for pilots, visitors and business travelers. That matters in a rural county where access is often measured not only by roads and bridges, but by how quickly people and freight can move in and out of the area.

What the field can handle

The FAA’s current Chart Supplement identifies the airport as WENDELL H FORD, CPF and KCPF, about 10 miles northwest of Hazard. It sits at 1,257 feet elevation, with runway 14/32 measuring 5,499 by 100 feet in asphalt and runway 06/24 measuring 3,246 by 60 feet in asphalt.

Those are not decorative details. A 5,499-foot primary runway, along with 100LL and Jet A+ fuel, runway lighting aids including PAPI and REIL, and AWOS-3 weather on 119.025, tells pilots the airport is built for real general-aviation use rather than occasional hobby traffic. The field is attended from 1300 to 2300Z, which adds another layer of reliability for travelers planning around weather, fuel and arrival windows.

For Perry County residents, those operational facts help explain why the airport is treated as infrastructure. It gives the county a usable point of entry for business flights, emergency access and other aviation needs that can be difficult to replace once they are missing.

Why the county keeps tying the airport to jobs

The airport’s value becomes even clearer when it is viewed alongside the Coal Fields Regional Industrial Park. Perry County says the park is served by Wendell H. Ford Airport and notes that the park has a 5,500-foot main runway, putting aviation squarely into the county’s economic development strategy.

That industrial park is a five-county partnership involving Perry, Leslie, Knott, Breathitt and Harlan counties. Its tenant list shows the kind of activity the county wants to support: Sykes, Inc., FedEx Distribution Center, Forrester Joseph Trucking, Hurley Electrical Contracting and Dajcor Aluminum. Those are the kinds of employers that make airport access useful not just for an arriving executive, but for supply chains, maintenance trips and time-sensitive logistics.

Perry County also cites a June 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics chart showing a laborshed workforce of 51,444 within a 60-minute drive. That figure gives the airport and industrial park argument some weight: the county is not simply advertising land, but a location with a regional workforce and transportation infrastructure that can support it. The airport, in that sense, is part of the package that can help turn local geography into an economic advantage.

Drone testing gives the airport a second purpose

Wendell H. Ford Airport also sits inside Perry County’s pitch for the USA Drone Port, where officials describe the airport as a critical partner for clients flying in for testing and facility utilization. That language signals a second identity for the field, one tied not just to conventional aviation, but to emerging technology and research.

The drone-port project board includes Perry County Judge-Executive Scott Alexander and Hazard Airport Board Chairman Steve Barker, linking county leadership directly to the effort. Perry County says the project received a $1.5 million 2018 AML Pilot grant for an indoor drone flight-testing facility, and the broader plan calls for a 500-foot runway, circular landing pads and Class G airspace.

For a county looking to diversify its economy, that combination is important. It suggests the airport can serve more than routine arrivals and departures. It can also support testing, demonstration work and specialized aviation activity that could bring visitors, researchers and outside investment into the county.

Infrastructure around the airport is still moving

The airport area is not standing still. In a public notice dated April 23, 2024, Perry County Fiscal Court said it was applying for federal and state grants to build sewer lines and related infrastructure for the Coal Fields Industrial Park and the Airport Subdivision site on Wendell H. Ford Airport Terminal Road in Hazard.

That kind of groundwork is easy to overlook, but it often determines whether a county can actually build on its transportation assets. Sewer lines, site utilities and subdivision infrastructure are the behind-the-scenes pieces that make industrial growth possible, especially when airport-adjacent land is being positioned for development.

Taken together, the notice and the industrial park plans show a county trying to connect aviation, land use and job creation in one corridor. The airport is not being treated as a stand-alone facility. It is being woven into the broader development strategy around Hazard and Chavies.

What Perry County gets from the airport

The clearest value of Wendell H. Ford Airport may be that it gives Perry County more than a local airfield on paper. It gives the county a working gateway into Hazard, a base for industrial recruitment, a partner in drone testing and a transportation asset that has been part of county planning since 1983.

For residents, that means the airport’s importance is not abstract. It supports access, strengthens the county’s case to employers and researchers, and keeps a piece of rural infrastructure active in a region where connectivity can shape opportunity. In Perry County, the airport is not just present, it is part of how the county tries to move forward.